By Andres Gonzalez and Gianluca Semeraro

LONDON, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Insurer Generali GAS.MI, Milan-listed BFF Bank BFF.MI and France's BPCE have advanced to the second round of bidding to acquire European life insurance consolidator GamaLife from Apax Partners, two sources familiar with the matter said.

Buyout group Apax is targeting a valuation of about 600 million euros ($691.56 million) for GamaLife, the sources said.

DEAL DETAILS

• Apax expects binding offers in the coming weeks and aims to reach a deal early next year, the people said.

• BFF, BPCE, Generali declined to comment.

KEY CONTEXT

• Lisbon-based GamaLife was founded in 2019 by Apax and acquired Zurich Insurance Group's Italian life and pensions back book in 2022. The 2022 acquisition included a portfolio of life insurance policies and pension funds totalling 7 billion euros.

• Generali announced the acquisition of the Spanish unit of U.S. insurer Liberty Mutual for 2.3 billion euros in 2023.

• BPCE agreed on the acquisition of Novo Banco in June this year. Novo Banco has a distribution agreement with GamaLife.

($1 = 0.8676 euros)

(Reporting by Andres Gonzalez and Gianluca Semeraro. Aditional reporting by Elvira Pollina, Mathieu Rosemain. Editing by Anousha Sakoui and Louise Heavens)

((andres.gonzalez@thomsonreuters.com ; +44 (0) 7551 790019))